Moving Stories

International Review of How Media Cover Migration

EJN

Ethical
Journalism
Network

EDITED BY Aidan White

Moving Stories
Published in London by the Ethical Journalism Network
2015 Ethical Journalism Network
11 Vicarage Road, London, E15 4HD United Kingdom
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher. The
contents of this book are covered by authors rights and the right to use of contributions with the Editor and the
authors themselves.
Designed by Mary Schrider ([email protected])
This report is published as part of a programme of assistance to the work of the EJN provided by the Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all of the authors for their contributions and to Douglas Morrision for his skilful editing of the
report. We also appreciate the help of EJN Board members and others who have helped shape the final text. In
particular, we thank Kieran Cooke and his colleagues at Climate News Network and Tony Bunyan at Statewatch
who assisted in the selection of contributors. The quote from H.G. Wells on the back cover comes from Ali Smith in
The Guardian on November 20th 2015.

Photo credits

Page 4: A Cry for Those in Peril on the Sea by UNHCR/A. Rodriguez

licensed under CC BY 2.0

Cover image: Syrian refugees crossing the Serbian-Croatian border

Francesco Malavolta/IOM 2015

Page 7: Border fence at Friendship Park, Tijuana by BBC World Service

licensed under CC BY 2.0

Page 1: Eastern Chad - Universal Childrens Day by UNHCR/ Frderic

Noy, Dec.2011 licensed under CC BY 2.0

Page 10: Migrant Worker Style By Matt Ming licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Page 3: Repatriation of IDPs in North Darfur by UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez

Farran licensed under CC BY 2.0

Page 13: Factory Zhuhai China by Chris licensed under CC BY 2.0

Page 14: Netting Up: Migrant Workers in Hong Kong by KC Wong licensed
under CC BY 2.0

Foreword

Beyond the
headlines
Jan Egeland

For years, the Norwegian Refugee Council and

other humanitarian actors have called out too
often in vain to the international community, to
the media, the decision makers and the public
opinion about the sufferings of millions of civilians
fleeing war in Syria.
As the conflict escalated, and the humanitarian disaster with it,
creating the biggest refugee crisis in our generation, our appeals for
wider media attention, with some notable exceptions, fell on deaf
ears with an apparent lack of interest on the part of the vast majority
of television and radio companies and major newspapers.
It was arguably only with the tragic death of Aylan Kurdi and
the publication of pictures of his body on a beach in Turkey
that Western public opinion and global media finally woke up.
Immediately, media lenses focused sharply on the humanitarian
crisis in the Mediterranean and both politicians and ordinary people
had to respond.

What about the many other humanitarian

crises beyond the medias radar? Every
two minutes another South Sudanese
child becomes severely malnourished.
But these stories are seldom told.
But this incident only raised another question. What about the many
other humanitarian crises beyond the medias radar? In war-torn
South Sudan, for example. This country is rarely in the limelight. In
2011, it gained independence from Sudan ending a generation of war.
Two years later, the civil war broke out resulting in massive forced displacement and today the country is one of the worlds impoverished
places. Every two minutes another South Sudanese child becomes
severely malnourished. But these stories are seldom told.
A South Sudanese colleague told me it was strange to see how things
can change from one day to the other only because of international
media attention.
In Europe, it was that boy on the beach. Maybe we need a picture
of a boy like that in South Sudan, she said while preparing to go on
a new mission to one of the worlds hardest-to-reach areas where
dropping food from World Food Programme airplanes is the only
way to provide hungry people with something to eat.
Too often not even stories about children dying of starvation are
enough to make headlines on the nine oclock news. Humanitarian
disasters that deserve our attention often go uncovered because
there is no photographer or journalist on the ground to tell the story.
Only a couple of conflicts receive our attention at any given time,
while most dramas get none at all. Why is that?

Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration | 1

The reasons are complex. It is not just a lack of humanity on the news agenda or a
matter of luck or a matter of caring more about some people at the expense of others.
We need a broader lens to see what really is going on.
In the Norwegian Refugee Council we annually publish a list of the worlds 10 most
neglected displacement crises. This year the Rohingyas have topped the list. This
minority Muslim community under pressure in Myanmar is also found in neighbouring Bangladesh where hundreds of thousands have sought protection.
One criterion to be on the neglected crises list is a lack of media attention. Other
factors include lack of funding, little humanitarian presence and difficult access to
the victims of the conflict. Often, there is a strong correlation between the different
factors: access problems can lead to lack of media attention, which again can lead to
lack of donor concern, which again leads to even bigger access issues. This completes
a vicious circle that is not easily broken.
But there is an important truth in all of this decision makers pay attention to the
media, and independent journalists reporting with care, humanity and professionalism have enormous power to tell stories that create a new path.
But, as this report reveals, mainstream media is currently under pressure with news companies struggling to adapt to a new reality with plummeting revenues and competition
from new media. Often media will simply say they cannot afford to cover these stories.
But this should not be an excuse for adopting a herd mentality where media follow
each other to cover a small cluster of the most obvious stories. Media around the
world are now reporting on the disastrous humanitarian consequences of the civil
war in Syria and the exodus to Europe and they are going beyond the numbers story
which has dominated news coverage so far.
Yet as the poignant human tragedies from Syria takes centre stage, where is the
coverage of the second largest humanitarian crisis and war on our watch: in Yemen?
Here, around 21 million people are in urgent need of emergency relief. They suffer
from external and internal bombardment, blockade and totally inadequate assistance and protection.
Also the journalists themselves need to be protected to be able to report on the atrocities. For journalists reporting from conflict and war 2015 is another deadly year. Like
humanitarian workers, journalists are not only at risk of becoming so-called collateral
damage during military operations, they are also increasingly targeted.
It is therefore essential that the international community focus on the protection of
journalists in armed conflicts to allow for less casualties in the imminent future.
In Europe we talk about a sharing of responsibility in terms of coping with the growing influx of migration. Maybe it is time to talk about a media burden sharing where
media institutions, rather than chasing the same stories, divide the coverage of the
human suffering so that children in grave risk in South Sudan or Gaza do not continue
to stay in life-threatening situations without the world knowing.
This EJN report Moving Stories is a welcome step to allow journalists get an overview
of the problem areas as well as promoting best practices when it comes to reporting
on the wider migration story.
Without media attention, humanitarian crises, with their horrifying impacts, will continue to be learned by the outside world way too late.
Jan Egeland is the Secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council

2 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

Without media attention, humanitarian crises,

with their horrifying impacts, will continue to be
learned by the outside world way too late.

4 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

Introduction

Moving stories
Kieran Cooke and Aidan White
Migration is part of the human condition. Ever since humankind
emerged out of East Africa it has been on the move searching
for a better climate, looking for supplies of food and water,
finding security and safety.
Migration has suddenly jumped to the top of the news agenda. During 2015 journalists
reported the biggest mass movement of people around the world in recent history.
Television screens and newspapers have been filled with stories about the appalling
loss of life and suffering of thousands of people escaping war in the Middle East or
oppression and poverty in Africa and elsewhere.
Every day in 2015 seemed to bring a new migration tragedy: Syrian child refugees
perish in the Mediterranean; groups of Rohingyas escaping persecution in Myanmar
suffocate on boats in the South China Sea; children fleeing from gang warfare in Central America die of thirst in the desert as they try to enter the US.
In response to this crisis the Ethical Journalism Network commissioned Moving
Stories a review of how media in selected countries have reported on refugees and
migrants in a tumultuous year. We asked writers and researchers to examine the
quality of coverage and to highlight reporting problems as well as good work.

Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration | 5

The conclusions from many different parts of the

world are remarkably similar: journalism under
pressure from a weakening media economy; political bias and opportunism that drives the news
agenda; the dangers of hate-speech, stereotyping
and social exclusion of refugees and migrants. But
at the same time there have been inspiring examples of careful, sensitive and ethical journalism that
have shown empathy for the victims.
In most countries the story has been dominated by
two themes numbers and emotions. Most of the
time coverage is politically led with media often following an agenda dominated by loose language and
talk of invasion and swarms. At other moments the
story has been laced with humanity, empathy and a
focus on the suffering of those involved.
What is unquestionable is that media everywhere
play a vital role in bringing the worlds attention
to these events. This report, written by journalists
from or in the countries concerned, relates how
their media cover migration.
They tell very different stories. Nepal and the
Gambia are exporters of labour. Thousands of
migrants, mostly young men, flock from the mountain villages of Nepal to work in the heat of the Gulf
and Malaysia: often the consequences are disastrous. People from the Gambia make the treacherous trip across the Sahara to Libya and then by boat
to Europe: many have perished on the way either
in the desert or drowned in the Mediterranean.
In these countries reporting of the migration of
large numbers of the young in many ways the lifeblood of their nations is limited and stories about
the hardship migrants endure are rare. Censorship
or a lack of resources or a combination of both
are mainly to blame for the inadequacies of coverage. Self-censorship, where reporters do not want to
offend either their media employer or the government, is also an issue.
The reports on migration in China, India and
Brazil tell another story. Though large numbers
of people migrate from each of these countries,
the main focus is on internal migration, a global
phenomenon often ignored by mainstream media
that involves millions and dwarfs the international
movement of people.
Whats considered to be the biggest movement of
people in history has taken place in China over
the last 35 years. Cities are undergoing explosive
growth, with several approaching 20 million inhabitants. Similar movements are happening in India
and, to a lesser extent, in Brazil.

6 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

In Africa the headlines focus on people striving to

leave the continent and heading north, but there
is also migration between countries, with many
people from the impoverished central regions
heading for South Africa a country where media
also deal with problems of xenophobia and governmental pressure.
In Europe migration and refugee issues have shaken
the tree of European unity with hundreds of thousands trekking by land and sea to escape war and
poverty. The reports here reveal how for almost a
year media have missed opportunities to sound the
alarm to an imminent migration refugee crisis.
Media struggle to provide balanced coverage when
political leaders respond with a mix of bigotry and
panic some announcing they will only take in
Christian migrants while others plans to establish
walls and razor wire fences. Much of the focus has
been on countries in South Eastern Europe which
has provide a key route for migrants and refugees
on the march. In Bulgaria, as in much of the region,
media have failed to play a responsible role and
sensationalism has dominated news coverage.
In Italy, a frontline state where the Mediterranean
refugee tragedy first unfolded, the threat of hatespeech is always present, though this is often
counterbalanced by an ethical attachment of
many in journalism to a purpose-built charter
against discrimination. In Britain the story has
also often been politically-driven and focused,
sometimes without a sense of scale or balance: this
has been particularly evident in reportage of the
plight of refugees in Calais.
In Turkey, seen by many European politicians as
a key country in stemming the onward rush of
migrants, most media are under the thumb of a
government that punishes dissident journalists, so
the public debate is limited.
Like their Turkish colleagues, journalists in Lebanon
live with the reality of millions of refugees from wartorn Syria within their borders which makes telling
the story more complex and it is not helped by confused mixing of fact and opinion by many media.
At the same time in the United States media have
helped make the migrant and refugee issue an
explosive topic in debates between Republican
Party candidates for the presidency. Media time has
focused on heated and often racist exchanges. This
has obscured much of the good reporting in some
media that provides much-needed context. South
of the border, in Mexico media also suffer from
undue political pressure and self-censorship.

Open the world more equitably so we all may walk freely. Or

close the borders and let each one return to his house and see
how much poorer and drearier and darker the world is when we all
stay at home. Chibundu Onuzo

In Australia the media in a country built by migrants

struggles to apply well-meaning codes of journalistic
practice within a toxic political climate that has seen
a rise in racism directed at new arrivals.
These reports cover only a handful of countries,
but they are significant. The problems of scant
and prejudicial coverage of migration issues exist
everywhere. Even reporting of migration in the
international media with a few notable exceptions
tends to be overly simplistic.
Migrants are described as a threat. There is a tendency, both among many politicians and in sections
of the mainstream media, to lump migrants together
and present them as a seemingly endless tide of people who will steal jobs, become a burden on the state
and ultimately threaten the native way of life.
Such reporting is not only wrong; it is also dishonest. Migrants often bring enormous benefits to their
adopted countries.
How would Californias agricultural industry or
the Texan oil fields survive without the presence of
hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Central

American workers, often labouring on minimal

wages? How could the health service in the UK continue without the thousands of migrant nurses and
doctors from the developing world? How would cities
like Dubai, Doha or Singapore have been built without labourers from Nepal or Bangladesh or how
would they function without the armies of maids
and helpers from the Philippines and Indonesia?
These reports underscore why media need to
explain and reinforce a wider understanding that
migration is a natural process. No amount of razor
wire or no matter how high walls are built, desperate migrants will find a way through. People will still
flock to the cities, drawn by the hope of a better life.
The migrant crisis is not going to go away: the
impact of widespread climate change and growing
inequality is likely to exacerbate it in the years ahead.
The inescapable conclusion is that there has never
been a greater need for useful and reliable intelligence on the complexities of migration and for
media coverage to be informed, accurate and laced
with humanity. But if that is to be achieved we must
strengthen the craft of journalism.

Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration | 7

Recommendations and Useful Links

1. Ethical context
Migrants and refugees are a vulnerable minority
who can quickly become scapegoats for the ills of
society social and economic decline, crime and
unemployment, pressure on health and welfare
services and lack of security.
Media can counter this threat and help people
better understand the complex migration story by
applying ethical principles, avoiding crude stereotypes, developing good newsroom practice and
engaging with the audience. In particular, journalists should apply and respect the following five core
principles of journalism in their work:
e

Accuracy: fact-based reporting, analysis and

commentary;

Independence: journalism free from self-censorship and political pressure;

Impartiality: fair reporting that tells all sides of

the story;

Humanity: sensitive and careful journalism that

avoids doing undue harm;

Accountability: media transparency and commitment to correct errors.

2. Newsroom practice
Media companies and journalists unions and associations should prepare concise guides to best practices for the reporting on refugees and migrants. In
addition, all media should examine their internal
structures to make sure they are telling the story in
the most effective way.
News organisations can:
e

Appoint specialist reporters with good knowledge

of the subject to the migration and refugee beat.

Provide detailed information on the background

of migrants and refugees and the consequences
of migration. It is especially important to note
that some major studies reveal how migration
can strengthen national economies in the longer
term, even where there are short-term challenges.

Avoid political bias and challenge deceptive

handling of the facts and incitement to hatred
particularly by political, religious or other community leaders and public figures.

Respect sources of information and grant anonymity to those who require it most, particularly

8 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

those who are vulnerable and most at risk.

e

Establish transparent and accessible internal systems for dealing with complaints from the audience over coverage of migrant and refugee issues.

Review employment policies to ensure newsroom diversity with reporters and editors from
minority communities.

Provide training for journalists and editors covering everything from international conventions
and law to refugee rights and what terms to use
while covering refugee stories.

Monitor coverage regularly. Organise internal

discussions on how to develop and improve the
scope of migration coverage.

Manage online comments and engage with the

audience to ensure that migration stories are not
used as a platform for abuse or intolerance.

Media associations and journalists unions can also

support national structures for independent regulation or self-regulation of journalism, such as press
councils. Where there are industry-wide codes of
conduct and guidelines dealing with non-discrimination these should cover reporting migration.

3. Engage with the media audience

and connect with migrants
Refugee groups, activists and NGOs, many of which
provide vital information for media, can be briefed
on how best to communicate with journalists and
media can explain to the audience their policies
and editorial approach which may encourage
readers, viewers and listeners to contribute useful
additional information.

4. Challenge hate-speech
Hate-speech is widespread in the media. Often it
cant be prevented when it comes out of the mouths
of prominent public figures, but journalists should
always remember that just because someone says
something outrageous doesnt make it newsworthy.
The Ethical Journalism Network has developed
a 5-point text for hate-speech as a useful tool for
newsrooms. (See below).

5. Demand access to information

Media cannot report without access to reliable
information and facts. When access to information
is restricted, such as not being allowed to enter

refugee camps, media and civil society groups

should press the government both nationally and
internationally to be more transparent. Media and
journalists unions should meet regularly with
police and state authorities and agencies to ensure
journalists have safe conditions in which to work
and access to the information they need.

Some Useful Links

Glossaries
International Organization for Migration
(IOM Key migration terms)
United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
(UNAOC) Media Friendly Glossary for Migration

Statistics

Resources for journalists

Accountable Journalism Database
Africas Media Silence over Migration Crisis
BBC: Migration in Figures
Climate News Network
Dart Centre Covering Migration Tips for Journalists
Ethical Journalism Network: Migrants or Refugees?
Ethical Journalism Network Five-Point Test for
Hate-speech
Europe: The Migrant Files
Jean Paul Marthoz: How to cover migration
Getting the Facts Right: Ethnicity and Religion
(ARTICLE 19)
Media Diversity Institute

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR) Statistics and Operational Data

Statewatch

International Organization for Migration

(IOM) World Migration Report

Data-Based Study into Characteristics of Migration

Coverage in Canada, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, and the United States Summary
report and Full presentation

Internal Displacement Monitoring Center

Global Estimates 2015
Norwegian Refugee Council
(NRC) Resources Publications

Sources
International Refugee Law Everything you need
to know from the UNHCR
Institute for the Study of International
Migration (ISIM)
Refugee Studies Centre (RSC)
International Labour Organization (ILO)
Council of Europe (COE)
European Network Against Racism (ENAR)
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
Forced Migration Online
The Journal of International Migration and
Integration (JIMI)
The Global Migration Centre (GMC)
European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights (FRA)
Red Cross Global Campaign on Migration
Middle East Migration Issues (Migration Policy
Institute)

UK NUJ Migration Reporting Guide for Journalists

Why Al Jazeera will not say Mediterranean Migrants

David Cameron: Swarm of Migrants crossing
Mediterranean
Ten myths about migration
Guardian Special Report:
Hardline Australia, confused Scandinavia and tense
Russia: The global immigration picture
Generation E Data Driven Project Report on Youth
Migration from Southern Europe
The Med: One final danger in a migrants odyssey
The Arduous Journey of Colombian Migrants
Headed for Chile
What crime have I committed to be held like this?
Inside Yarls Wood
Risking their lives to cross the border: Europe or Die
Jimmy Breslin: The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo
Gutierrez
Giovanna dellOrto/Vicki Birchfield: Reporting at
the Southern Borders Journalism and Public
Debates on Immigration in the U.S. and the E.U.
Peter Andreas/Kelly Greenhill: Sex, Drugs and
Body Counts
Fabrizio Gatti: Bilal

Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration | 9

10 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

China

An inside story the

invisible and ignored
migrant workforce
Violet Law
Migration has been a familiar part of Chinas history
through the centuries, with Chinese explorers roaming
the globe and traders following in their wake.
Millions left, from the south of the country in particular, to escape famine and
poverty, eventually settling and setting up vibrant communities throughout
Southeast Asia. Today, in virtually every country across the world, there are
communities some big, some small whose forebears emigrated from China.
As large as this emigration has been, it is dwarfed by migration within the country. In the 1950s, following the Soviet Unions lead, the Communist Party government, which took power in 1949, followed a policy of developing heavy industries. Farmers flocked to urban centres to work on production lines, encouraged
by a relatively relaxed attitude to internal migration by the central authorities,
which aided this mass movement. By the end of the 1950s, 20 per cent of the
population had settled in cities, predominantly in the eastern half of the country.
During the 1960s the policy radically changed: a rustication movement was
inaugurated, with millions of party cadres, intellectuals and students forcibly
sent to the countryside. Continuing urbanisation was condemned as being
bourgeois: instead people had to learn from those working in the commune
movement out in the country.
This policy was only reversed after the death of Mao Tse Tung in 1976 and the
gradual unveiling of economic policies more open to the outside world in the
late 1970s. With a move towards a more market-orientated form of economic
development foreign investment was welcomed. Special economic zones were
set up to entice domestic and foreign industries.
China began to grow at breakneck speed, with large numbers of workers
providing relatively cheap labour the key. People migrated from rural to urban
areas mainly from west to east in their millions.
Since 1979 Chinas urban population has grown by 440 million to 622 million
today the largest mass movement of people within such a time period anywhere in the world. Nearly 55 per cent of the 1.36 billion population now live in
urban areas. There are six cities of more than 10 million. In the past five years
alone Shanghai, the most populous city in the country, has grown by 4 million
to 23 million and Beijing by 3 million to 18 million.

Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration | 11

Media focus on economic

migration
Interest in migrant workers, at once the ubiquitous
and the invisible in Chinese society, seems mostly to
take place in the context of economic development.
Generally the media seems to view them only as a
collective source of cheap labour in factories and at
building sites, fuelling urban economic growth.
The media, including internet news portals, are
tightly controlled by central government thus
reflecting official attitudes and policies to migrants,
who are valued only for their contribution to
economic growth and not as equals to long-term
residents of the cities.
The most striking manifestation of such attitudes
is the hukou system, under which all citizens
have to register with the authorities in their place
of birth. It operates in a way similar to an internal
passport, with a citizen only entitled to public benefits and services such as medical or educational
in his or her place of birth.
So while rural migrants are free to move to the
cities, they and their urban-born-and-bred children are deprived of their entitlements once there.
Its estimated that more than 270 million people
from the countryside over a third of the countrys
entire workforce live and work on rural status in
Chinas cities and are effectively treated as second-class citizens.
Only infrequently does the media draw attention to
the suffering caused by the hukou system. Shortly
before the 2010 meeting of the National Peoples
Congress, one of the main policy-forming bodies, a
group of 11 national newspapers called for reforms,
saying: We hope that a bad policy we have suffered
for decades will end with our generation, and allow
the next generation to truly enjoy the sacred rights
of freedom, democracy and equality bestowed by
the constitution.
However, despite calls for reform, little has been
done, with few signs that hukou is going to be
dismantled soon. In some cities, such as those
in the special economic areas of Shenzhen and
Guangzhou in the south and in Chengdu in western
China, officials have relaxed requirements of the
system by allowing long-term migrants to receive
certain benefits, including locally available healthcare and education for their children.
In large part such changes have been brought
about by economic realities rather than changes
in official attitudes; a one-child policy which

12 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

came into force in 1980 in much of China is now

giving rise to labour shortages; there is also the
fact that the country has one of the worlds fastest-ageing populations.
The numbers willing to work for low wages and a
long way from home who once fed the industrial
power base are just not there anymore: industries
are being forced to relax the hukou system to
entice more workers.
Generally, when these internal migrants are written about as individuals rather than as a factor
important for economic growth, their second-class
citizen status is reflected in news coverage.
Reporters tend to be biased against their status
and rural origins, and portray them in an unfavourable light, when such portrayals are neither
substantiated or warranted.
For example, a local resident of Tiantongyuan,
a Beijing suburb that has more migrant workers than locals, was quoted using deeply critical
terms in an article entitled Migrants out in The
Global Times newspaper, the English-language
version of the state-owned Peoples Daily: The
whole place is ruined by the messy and dirty
crowds, said Liu.
In the rare cases where reporters attempt to highlight the discrimination migrant workers face, there
is regrettably very little critical coverage of policies
which continue to add to their plight.
Perhaps self-censorship is at work: reporters do not
want to fall foul of the authorities. They also might
feel their work if at all critical will be censored if
they describe such policies as hukou in a negative
way. Consequently most media coverage is either
based on or occasioned by official pronouncements
and reporters often appear to have made no effort
in challenging officials.
A member of the Chinese Peoples Political Conference (CPPCC), talking to journalists about recent
migrants to Shanghai, suggested that they no
longer sought to work for their living. Shanghai
has been attracting residents from other regions
because of its migrant-friendly education and
health policies, Chai Junyong, a CPPCC member
told The Global Times.
When the first generation of migrants came they
came for jobs, Chai said. Then they started to
bring their children. Now, they are coming because
they want their children to be educated here. No
one challenged the CPPCCs statement: the views of
migrants themselves were not given.

Coverage of migrant issues is generally limited to

once a year during the Spring Festival travel season,
spanning the Lunar New Year. This sees as many as
175 million travelling for family reunions.
Although the event is repeated year after year, with
such mass travel first witnessed from the mid1980s onwards, the media still gives full coverage
to detailing how millions of workers return to their
towns and villages. But again, little is said of their
suffering and hardship, nor is there questioning of
broader issues such as whether these vast movements are good or bad.
Amongst the generally negative and lop-sided
coverage, there is only one exception which really
stands out. YazhouZhoukan literally Asia Weekly
is a Chinese-language news magazine published in
Hong Kong but barred from the mainland.
In reporting the annual Spring Festival migration,
YazhouZhoukan makes efforts to provide informed
news. An early 2015 edition devoted 10 pages to five
stories detailing different aspects of journeys home
to the perils of the trip, the migrants hopes and
the realities they face.
Reporters presented the varied life experiences of
migrants. Most, they report, are stuck on the bottom
rung of society, though some manage to save money
and build a business or otherwise advance in life.

YazhouZhoukan reported: Working in a factory

is the surest way to wear down ones will, said Lei
Jianxin, 29, who at 13 left his home in Xian, Shaanxi
province, to work. Now a low-level supervisor at a
shoe factory in Dongguan, Guangdong province,
Lei works the production line.
Every day you clock in, clock out. You collect your
paycheck, and you wont think about much else. A
decade ago I might still have dreams; now, I dont
have any whatsoever.
Yazhou Zhoukans reporters went to various parts
of the country and travelled alongside migrant
workers, some of whom were loaded with gifts to
bring home, travelling by motorbike with wives and
children. Others travelled in overloaded vans.
In addition to capturing individual stories, reporters also sought to examine the mass travel phenomenon: they pointed out that despite modernisation
of the rail system, migrants still face considerable
financial and technical difficulties in securing a
ticket home, with many forced to spend frustrating
hours waiting at stations.
Interestingly, the media gives little coverage to
outward migration. Over the years there have been
many reports in western media concerning Chinese trafficking gangs, and people paying substantial sums to be smuggled from China to western

Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration | 13

countries, mainly to the US and Canada, with large

numbers also going to Europe. Such stories have
received little or no coverage in China.
In 2000, 58 migrants from China being smuggled
into the UK died when they suffocated in a container truck. In 2004, 23 Chinese illegal immigrants
both male and female were killed by rising tides
while working to gather cockles in Morecambe
Bay, in the north of England. The incident received
widespread coverage in the UK national and international media though little within China.
One reason for this lack of coverage is perhaps
reporters fear that giving space to such stories might
be construed as criticism of the status quo in China
reporting that people are seeking to leave the
country and work abroad in often harsh conditions
could imply that all is not well at home. The media
has chosen instead to focus more on those migrants
who successfully build businesses overseas.

Migration and media

in Hong Kong
As a British colony, Hong Kong had a long history
of opening its doors to diverse peoples from around
the world from the Indians and Nepalese who
came to serve in the British Army and the local
police force to refugees fleeing wars and political
purges in mainland China and Vietnam.

14 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

There has been a large influx of Chinese to Hong

Kong since 1997, after Beijing resumed sovereignty
over the former British colony. There are stringent
border controls and a strict quota system to regulate migration from the mainland.
Usually only mainland Chinese citizens with family
ties, special talents or substantial financial resources
are granted an immigrant visa to live permanently
in Hong Kong. More than 800,000 have settled since
1997, accounting for 11 per cent of the current population. In addition, there are tens of thousands who
are on temporary student and work visas.
However, this latest wave of migration has roused
much conflict and controversy. Even though nearly
all recent Chinese immigrants and local people
share ethnic origins, a substantial segment of Hong
Kong society sees a gulf between the newcomers
value system and cultural habits and its own.
Reporting often tends to mirror such attitudes.
For example, TV or tabloid news reports invariably mention whether the new Chinese immigrant
involved in an incident is on a one-way permit
that is a permanent visa, as opposed to a two-way,
temporary permit.
The citys leading English daily paper, The South
China Morning Post (SCMP) gives generally wide
coverage to migrants though articles seem to focus

on the extremes the people mentioned are either

desperate and needy or very rich.
Coverage often focuses on money and not on
human interest stories, as in the cases where some
new immigrants asserted their rights as permanent
residents to welfare and other entitlements. A 2012
feature headed Call to cut number of mainland
immigrants in the SCMP gave the results of a poll
on public attitudes:

The 2010 census was the first time China officially

counted foreigners, who now number around
850,000, less than 0.1 per cent of the total population. Amongst them, Africans, Americans, Japanese,
Indians, Pakistanis and South Koreans represent
the largest groups, mostly living in the most populous cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The view that new migrants lowered wage levels

was held by almost half of those polled 46.7 per
cent and almost four in 10 said they stole locals
jobs. Meanwhile more than a third thought a rise in
new migrants would result in more crime.

Although Beijing and Shanghai have a higher

percentage of foreigners, Guangzhous foreign
population is by far Chinas most visible concentration of migrants. An estimated 200,000 Africans,
who arrived to trade from a number of countries
including Nigeria, Mali, Cameroon, Ghana and
Tanzania live in Guangzhou: more than half are
believed not to have proper immigration papers.

There are those in Hong Kong who say the government and the media should do more to counter
what they feel are excessively negative attitudes.

In the early days, media coverage of these people was

mostly negative, says Li Zhigang, an academic who
has researched Guangzhous foreign population.

This (the poll result) is worrisome, Professor

Chou Kee-lee of Hong Kongs Institute of Education was quoted as saying. The sentiment needs to
change. The government needs to face this problem
before it gets worse to change negative public
sentiment through education, and increase policies
targeting immigrants to help them integrate.

In 2009, a police chase resulted in two Nigerians

jumping to their deaths. Coverage focused not on
the circumstances of the incident but rather on
the commotion caused when angry Africans surrounded the local police station.

A rapidly ageing society with one of the worlds lowest birth rates, Hong Kong should regard immigration as a boon rather than a nuisance, and a population flow within what is the same country should
be seen as normal.

Bringing the migration

story out of the shadows
While China has for centuries seen its people
migrate overseas, few foreigners, particularly in
more recent times, have been allowed to settle in
the country.
The experience of having been subject to successive
colonisations by foreign powers has sowed deep suspicion, at least within officialdom, towards foreigners. But with Chinas economy growing rapidly in
recent years many foreigners have sought to establish themselves and participate in its rapid growth.
Yet, this new land of opportunity is also the land of
a draconian immigration regime. Very few foreigners are allowed to become naturalised. Permanent
residency, introduced only in late 2004, may be
available for those with strong family ties or with
large amounts of money to invest. Even so, the naturalisation quota is minuscule.

However, as the presence of these new arrivals

became less a curiosity and more accepted, coverage has become more enlightened.
The foreign traders were recognised as important
patrons of local factories; reporters noted that some
Africans come out of hiding only at night in order to
avoid police attention. News reports also sought to
explain the difficulties these foreigners had with the
local bureaucracy.
But there are still issues which go unreported:
there is no mention of the extrajudicial detention of migrants and traders who might have
overstayed their visas or been accused of minor
offences. Nor is there mention of cases where
permanent visas are denied to those married to
local Chinese.
Migration is an issue of great importance in China
although many aspects have gone unreported or
are under-reported.
The economy, though still growing at rates many
countries can only dream of, is slowing down.
Migrant workers, many from the countryside, are
being laid off. It will be interesting to see how these
developments are reported, whether an open discussion is allowed or whether the media, nervous of
official disapproval, will seek to avoid them.

Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration | 15

Migration: Its the same old story

The enormous change in human conditions to which nearly all our present stresses are
due, the abolition of distance and the stupendous increase in power, have flung together the
population of the world so that anew way of living has become imperative
The elaboration of methods and material has necessitated a vast development and
refinement of espionage, and in addition the increasing difficulty ofunderstanding what
the warfare isreally about has produced new submersive and demoralising activities of
rumour-spreading, propaganda and the like, that complicate and lose contact at last with
any rational objective
The uprooting of millions of people who are driven into exile among strangers, who are
forced to seek new homes, produces a peculiar exacerbation of the mental strain. Never have
there been such crowds of migrating depressing people.
They talk languages we do not understand they stimulate xenophobia without intention
Their necessary discordance with the new populations they invade releases and
intensifies the natural distrust and hostility of man for man which it is the aim of all moral
and social training to eliminate
For the restoration and modernisation of human civilisation, this exaggerated outlawing of
the fellow citizen who we see fit to suspect as a traitor or revolutionary and also of the stranger
within our gates, has to be restrained and brought back within the scheme of human rights.
H. G. Wells, The Rights of Man(1940)

EJN

Ethical
Journalism
Network

16 | Moving Stories International Review of How Media Cover Migration

www.ethicaljournalismnetwork.org
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